Ancient Aboriginal rock art, African sites make UNESCO World Heritage list

UN taste organisation this week announces its prime of sites to beryllium granted World Heritage status.

The United Nations taste organisation has added a distant Aboriginal tract featuring 1 cardinal carvings that perchance day backmost 50,000 years to its World Heritage list.

Located connected the Burrup peninsula successful Western Australia, Murujuga is location to the Mardudunera people, who declared themselves “overjoyed” erstwhile UNESCO gave the past tract a coveted spot connected its database connected Friday.

“These carvings are what our ancestors near present for america to larn and support their cognition and support our civilization thriving done these ineffable sites,” said Mark Clifton, a subordinate of the Aboriginal delegation gathering with UNESCO representatives successful Paris.

Environmental and Indigenous organisations reason that the beingness of mining groups emitting concern emissions has already caused harm to the past site.

Benjamin Smith, a stone creation specializer astatine the University of Western Australia, said Murujuga was “possibly the astir important stone creation tract successful the world”, but that mining enactment was causing the stone creation to “break down”.

“We should beryllium looking aft it,” helium said.

Australian institution Woodside Energy, which operates an concern analyzable successful the area, told quality bureau AFP that it recognised Murujuga arsenic “one of Australia’s astir culturally important landscapes” and that it was taking “proactive steps … to guarantee we negociate our impacts responsibly”.

Delegation person Raelene Cooper said the UNESCO listing sent “a wide awesome to the Australian Government and Woodside that things request to change”.

Making the UNESCO’s practice database does not successful itself trigger extortion for a site, but tin assistance unit nationalist governments into taking action.

African practice boosted

Cameroon’s Mandara Mountains and Malawi’s Mount Mulanje were besides added to the latest variation of the UNESCO World Heritage list.

UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay has presented Africa arsenic a precedence during her 2 presumption successful office, though the continent remains underrepresented.

The Diy-Gid-Biy scenery of the Mandara Mountains, successful the acold northbound of Cameroon, consists of archaeological sites, astir apt created betwixt the 12th and 17th centuries.

Malawi’s Mount Mulanje, successful the southbound of the country, is considered a ineffable spot inhabited by gods, spirits and ancestors.

UNESCO is besides considering applications from 2 different African countries, namely the Gola Tiwai forests successful Sierra Leone and the biosphere reserve of the Bijagos Archipelago successful Guinea-Bissau.

On Friday, UNESCO besides listed 3 notorious Cambodian torture and execution sites utilized by the Khmer Rouge authorities to perpetrate genocide 50 years ago.